Up from Slavery - Slaves at the Cape, Their Origins, Treatment and Contributions (Paperback) - R.E.

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Colonial and apartheid historians systematically obscured slavery, while the descendants were too ashamed to admit to being part of the process. The auhtor shows that this partnership of denial has resulted in the weakening of our cultural awareness of the past. Our history, van der Ross clearly shows, was intricately bound in with slavery and its patterns of subordination, but slavery also fostered cultural interchange and syncretism, which he demonstrates were profound influences. The most moving and insightful aspects of this book are the final chapters on music, a shamefully neglected topic in the Cape slavery genre. Here he traces the music of the slave orchestras on the plantations through the emergence of the 'coon' carnival and into the twentieth century and the rise of the Eoan group.